Yanni plans a spectacular concert at the Taj
Suparn Verma in Agra
"You just missed Elvis and Buddy," Douglas Pope, site
co-ordinator for the Yanni -- Live at the Taj show on
Thursday, Friday and Saturday sounds properly sorrowful.
Sure, pal, I missed them -- as did every other person from my generation.
A suitably sombre pause follows. And then, Pope continues cheerfully,
"Those two camels were really useful -- they hauled the equipment
over the sand and then pulled the bricks when they got stuck."
The dry bed of the Yamuna river is abuzz with last minute activity,
as the stage and surrounding areas are tuned to last minute
perfection. The 540-people strong workforce descends on the site
at 9 am and works with clockwork precision till midnight. While
the stage, a complex arrangement of steel girders and two towers
loaded with every conceivable kind of light, rises behind Pope
like a sci-fi monolith.
In front of him is a two floor, 60 feet tall, 32 feet wide, 24
feet deep control tower. The sound control section is at the base
and the lighting will be controlled from first floor. It will
also control the signal snakes (wires buried in the ground). Before
the concert, the sand will be covered with tarpaulin and green
carpeting to give the effect of grass.
The sound control room is unusual, for every person on the stage
wears a ear monitor. Yanni's concerts have the most controlled
sound in any live performance.
Meanwhile, the links to all the 112 microphones are being checked.
"At the Acropolis, we had different speakers and it was set
up in a different way. We had very few microphones then. This
is more personalised," says Anthony Stabile, as he checks the links.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Pope grins. "This,"
he points reverentially to a piece of paper marking a spot on
the stage, "is where Yanni's grand piano will be placed."
Though Pope has spent 21 years with Neil Diamond and was production
manager when Pope John Paul II held a mass in Central Park for 150,000
people, the details for an event of this magnitude still thrill
him. "The rhythm section is close to the orchestra, who are
behind the vocalists. Since this will be a television event, we
have added extra lighting, balloon spots and coloured lights.
The generators, running in cycles of 50 in sync with each other,
will produce electricity for the sound, video, satellite system,
lights..."
"I'm really excited about shooting the Taj in the heightened
moonlight especially since, this time, we have the best music
system," says seven-time Emmy Award winning director/producer
George Veras. "Besides, you have everyone doing different
things at the same time, building up the emotion in a show of
craftsmanship. Though we will have a total of 14 cameras including
crane cameras, jitcams, steady cams and a handheld camera -- my
choice will still be very limited. You have to be quick on your
feet if you want to catch everything."
Veras started his career as a sportswriter for ABC in 1974, before
graduating to become a CBS sports producer in 1981 and the man
behind several successful shows on basketball, the Super Bowl
and a documentary on Mount Kilimanjaro. Veras also directed Yanni's
shows at the Acropolis (Greece), the Royal Albert Hall (London),
the Toji temple (Japan) and the shows in Mexico.
"George," exclaims Yanni's former tour production manager
David Kaniski, "is a director with a lot of gumption.
Besides, he loves Yanni's music." Kaniski has been with Yanni
for 12 years -- an association which began when the former was working
with a band called Tangerine Dreams.
"Yanni," he says, "will open the concert with
a 11-minute long song called Deliverance which is specially
dedicated to the Taj. This is most unusual for him because Yanni
has never before written a song specially for a monument."
Performing at exotic locations, he reveals, is not an egotistic
exercise for Yanni. "He is looking for a symbol that means
something. At the same time, he's trying to achieve the best audio-visual
show. Which is why he spends 80 per cent of his rehearsal time
with us. He understands perfectly what happens with sound. And
though he never tells us what to do with the lights..."
"Yanni tells us what his music is called, what
it's all about and we light the stage accordingly. Like, when
he composed a new song called Irish Tune. I listened to
it and gave the song lavender blue lights. Yanni saw it. And,
the next day, told me that the song, now called Renegade,
was a rock song. Accordingly, I changed the light to bright tones."
Lights for the Yanni show in India include patterns in Urdu and
the shape of a lotus.
A strange factor is Yanni's band is that many of them have been
with pop singer Sheena Easton. Kaniski smiles, "Actually, I am
responsible for that. When I was production manager for Yanni,
I met Marc St Louis, (Yanni's current tour manager) who was then
with Sheena. I made him join Yanni. Harrison was a carpenter with
her, he is now the assistant tour manager with Yanni. Jeanette
Clinger and the percussionist were also with Sheena."
Suddenly, everyone gives a cry of joy. And Kaniski looks at the food
table which has quietly been laid. " Remember," he grins,
"this is a concert. It is very necessary to keep the morale
up. And only two things do that -- good food and toilets!!!"
Photographs: Suparn Verma
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